"Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needethnot to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth."2 Timothy 2:15 .

GOD'S approval should be the highest aim of
every one who professes to believe in Him
as the Creator, and especially of those who
accept Him as their Father and who claim
to hold the precious relationship to Him of
children.
His will should be their highest
law, and it should be a part of their daily
and hourly pleasure, as it is their privilege,
to seek to know His will and to do it.
This
implies study, considerationnot a mere
formality of thoughtless reading, or perfunctory worship,
but the diligent use of every available means to learn
what is His will.

The Apostle Paul gives Timothy the advice contained
in our text, and urges him to be "a workman that needeth
not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth."
And the intimation is that the ability rightly to divide
the Word of God is to be gained by the study of His
Word.
The truth of astronomy might give us some
knowledge; yet we see that some who have devoted their
entire lives to astronomy have lost sight of God, and have
become atheists.
Guided by the Word of God, any study
may be helpful.
But it must be viewed, considered,
received, from the standpoint of the Revelation of God.

The word workman suggests the thought of being engaged
in service.
This injunction of the Apostle applies
to all who belong to the Church of Christ.
We are God's
servants.
A great work is going on; this work is the
calling out of the Church class from the world.
The
Church that is called out is said to be the Temple
of God, whose "living stones" are being chiseled and
polished and made ready for their places in the building. [R5512 : page 232] We are the workmen. We are seeking to prepare ourselves
for God's presence, for God's Kingdom.
This
preparation is our first duty; we are to prepare ourselves
and to help to prepare others.

TRUE CAUSE OF MUCH FAILURE

The fashioning of these "living stones" is the development
of their character.
Each one thus engaged is working
out his own salvation.
We are God's laborers in
doing this work in ourselves.
But if we would have Divine approval, we must have the Divine wisdom"which cometh down from Above," and which we learn from the Word of God.James 3:17.

Apparently a great many professing Christians, after
they have given much time to the cultivation of their brainspending years in seminarieswill eventually find that
they have failed both to have the Lord's ideal accomplished
in themselves and to do much good to others.
This
seems to be the result of a failure rightly to divide the
Word of Truth.
In that Day many shall say, Lord, Lord,
we have prayed and taught and done many marvelous
things in Thy name!
Some of these the Lord says He
will not recognize as His Elect.
He may have a place in
which He will use some of them, some day, yet for this
special place He wishes those who are anxious to know
and to do His will rather than to know how they may
please men, or how they may receive large emoluments
or honor of men.
Those who are anxious to know His
will are most sure to have His will done in them.

MISAPPLICATION OF SCRIPTURES

The expression, "rightly dividing the Word of Truth,"
implies that the Word of Truth may be studied, may be
handled.
We see many ways of handling, or dividing,
the Scriptures.
Many Scriptures applicable long ago are
quoted as appropriately due now, and vice versa; and
those which belong to the future are quoted as applicable
now, or in the past.
There is a general liability to error
in not discerning how to divide them aright.

Rightly to divide the Word of Truth, then, is to make
such a prayerful study of it as will enable us to place
things where they belong.
For instance, if we fail to
distinguish between the begetting of the Holy Spirit, and
the quickening of the Holy Spirit, and our spirit birth,
and get these all confused, we shall do harm.
It is not
merely the seeking to show a variety of doctrines, but the
seeking to make clear what we give to others, that is the
part of wisdom.
The Apostle was showing Timothy that,
as an Elder of the Church of Christ, he might present the
different features of the Truth in such a way as to confuse
his hearers, who then would not know what they
believed.
Thus they would be in just the condition to
accept whatever teaching any one brought them, especially
if that one should happen to ridicule their belief.

This seems to be the condition of many today.
Evidently
there are many who have been serving or attempting
to serve God, who have not been giving out "meat in
due season," but who have been giving out truths in a very
confused way.
It is for us, then, to be on guard and
seek carefully to follow the instruction of the Apostle, [R5512 : page 233] "Study to show thyself approved unto God."
Do not
mind so much what men may say or think, but seek the
approval of God first.

It is proper for us to seek the approval of the holy, of
the saintly; but God's approval should have the precedence.
We must be workmen, not idlers and drones; for
these will not have any place in the Kingdom.
God is
calling to service now those who are willing to serve
under disadvantageous conditions.
We are, therefore, to
remember that we are to be servants; and that unless we
find the proper service, we cannot have a place in this
company which God is training.
If we wish His approval,
as expressed in His Word, we are to see that the conditions
as there outlined are fulfilled in our case.
"If any
man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."
We are told to "love not the world, neither the things that
are in the world." (1 John 2:15.)
We are not to set
our hearts upon these things.
Our hearts are to be set
upon the doing of the Lord's will.

The Lord intimates that those who will be faithful to
Him will have the opposition of the world.
"If they have
persecuted Me, they will also persecute you."
Therefore,
if we have no opposition, we lack this evidence of acceptability
with Him.
We are to rightly divide the Word of
Truth, and to see that our lives are in harmony with it.
At the same time we are to seek to present God's Word
to others, that they may enjoy the same privileges and
blessings.